Founded by experienced trial judges. Staffed only by judges.

MI-JADR was founded in August 2015 by retired Circuit Judge Daniel P. Ryan, together with retired Circuit Judges John Foster and Jeanne Stempien. Retired Judges Neil Mullally, William Caprathe, James L. Ryan, Megan Maher Brennan, Dan Palmer, Julie Nicholson and Tina Brooks Green joined the panel after its founding. Judges Foster, Caprathe, Stempien, James L. Ryan and Palmer have taken emeritus status.

Our current neutrals are experienced trial judges and former presiding judges of the business court who routinely handled sophisticated business, class action, commercial, technology, medical malpractice, tort and contract cases. On the bench they earned reputations for work ethic, even-handed temperament and an unyielding commitment to fairness — courteous to lawyers and clients, decisive and well prepared.

Attorneys choose retired judicial neutrals for the confidential, conflict-free environment they provide. A retired judge will never represent an adversary in your next case, and the parties are assured of complete client and subject-matter confidentiality. We are glad to serve as the neutral on a three-person panel — or to supply all three.

Where we work

To meet demand across the state and the country, MI-JADR maintains offices in Livonia (headquarters), the Dallas/Fort Worth area and Boulder, Colorado, and conducts sessions remotely via Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex. Our Livonia facility offers private conference space, refreshments and kitchen access for full-day sessions, large-screen monitors and high-speed connectivity for hybrid proceedings.

As we grow

MI-JADR intends to keep adding distinguished retired judges — arbitration and mediation neutrals across the country — so that the insight and experience gained over more than a thousand jury trials continues to resolve our clients' disputes confidentially, fairly, quickly and cost-efficiently.